The qualitative approach with a case study methodology was employed as a framework appropriate for exploring and explaining the classroom experiences articulated by educators in teaching
sexuality education to Grade 6 and 7 learners. Denzin and Lincoln (1994) contend that qualitative implies an emphasis on the process and meanings that are rigorously examined or measured (if measured at all) in terms of quantity, amount, intensity or frequency. They further point out that the methods used in qualitative research aim to establish that the nature of reality is socially constructed, emphasizing the reciprocity that exists between the researcher and the study object, as well as affirm an investigation as value-laden. In addition, Denzin and Lincoln (1998) view qualitative research as a multi-pronged approach that is imperatively and realistically connected to the field of study.
Furthermore, they write, the qualitative approach consists of a set of interpretive material practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world, turning the world into a series of representations, using field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings and memos to the self. At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. ‘Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials. In a case study, these empirical materials include personal experience, introspection, life story, interview, artefacts and cultural texts and productions along with observational, interactional and visual texts that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individual’s lives’ (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998, p3). Marshall and Rossman (1999, p.74) argue for the ‘qualitative approach as a preferred approach for research that delves deeply into complexities. It allows you to examine people’s experiences in detail by using a specific set of research methods such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation, content analysis, visual methods and life histories or biographies’.
As Hennink, Hutter and Bailey (2011, p.9) alluded, ‘features of the qualitative approach allow you to identify issues from the perspective of your study participants, and to understand the meanings and interpretations that they give to behaviour, events or objects. This means that people are studied
within their contexts and identify how their experiences and behaviour are shaped by the context of their lives, such as the social, economic, cultural or physical context in which they live’.
‘Qualitative research also seeks to embrace and understand the contextual influences on the research issues. Qualitative research is useful in exploring new topics or understanding complex issues, for explaining people’s beliefs and behaviour, and for identifying the social, cultural norms of a culture or society’ (Hennink, Hutter & Bailey, 2011, p.9). Flick (2006) observes that qualitative research entails the use of small samples that are often selected for a specific purpose. Several writers such as Neuman (2006), Flick (2006), Fouche & Delport (2005), McIntyre (2005), Henning, Van Rensburg and Smith (2004), Terre-Blanche and Durrheim (1999); Creswell (2003) and Denzin and Lincoln (2003) concur with this notion to view social reality as constructing detailed descriptions using participants’ natural language to gain genuine understanding of their social world.
Fortune and Reid (1999) argue that one of the characteristics of the qualitative approach entails that the researcher gains first-hand and a holistic understanding of the phenomena through the use of flexible strategies such as semi-structured interviewing to gain an extensive understanding of participants formulation of their own environments. Fouche and Delport (2005, p.74) suggest ‘that qualitative approaches allow the researcher to elicit participants’ accounts of experiences, perceptions or meanings. It also gives rise to rich descriptive data that incorporates the participant’s own natural language, and entails understanding the participant’s values and beliefs underpinning the phenomenon under study’. The researcher is therefore concerned with the subjective exploration of social reality in natural settings from the perspective of an insider (Terre-Blanche & Durrheim, 1999). Maree (2007, p.55) asserts that ‘qualitative research therefore acknowledges an interactive relationship between the researcher and the participants, as well as the participants and their own experiences of how they have constructed reality based on those experiences. These personal experiences, beliefs and value-laden narratives are biased and subjective, but qualitative research
accepts them as true for those who have lived through the experiences. The stories, experiences and voices of the respondents are mediums through which we explore and understand (know) reality’.
Therefore, in light of the above review of the literature, the qualitative approach with a case study was employed as it was appropriate in exploring and understanding extensively the classroom experiences of educators teaching sexuality education in Life Orientation. The case study as research design complemented the qualitative approach adopted in this study. Stevens, Schade, Chalk and D’A Slevin (1993, p.79) define ‘a case study as research dealing with one individual case, a type of field research restricted to a single individual or a small social system’. Yin (1994, p.23) argues that ‘a case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when boundaries and contexts are not clearly defined.
Therefore, the case study approach is useful in situations where contextual conditions of events being studied are critical and where the researcher has no control over events as they unfold’.
According to Miles and Huberman (1994, p.41) ‘a case study is a phenomenon of some sort, occurring in a bounded context’. Walsham (1995) contends that for researchers, single cases permit a sound exploration and comprehension of the researcher’s manifestation accounts. Cavaye (1996) concurs with this notion noting that such exploration of variable manifestations are implicitly predefined and converge a sound comprehension of these manifestations in different situations.
Merriam (1998, p.27) define the ‘case study as a thing, a single entity and a unit around which there are boundaries’. This holds true in the research topic identified where only primary school educators teaching sexuality education to Grade 6 and 7 learners within a single school were studied. Leedy and Ormrod (2006, p.135) refer to a case study where, ‘a particular individual, programme or event that is studied in depth for a definite period of time. Case studies are suitable for learning more about a little known or poorly understood situation, maybe useful for investigating how an individual or programme changes over time, perhaps as a result of certain circumstances or interventions’. Furthermore, they claim that the purpose of the case study is to
understand one person or situation (perhaps a very small number) in great depth, focusing on one or few cases within its/their natural settings (Leedy & Ormrod, 2006).
Weade (1992, p.35) argues that ‘a setting is not a static isolated variable [but] rather a dynamic constructed set of conditions out of which opportunities for meaningful engagement emerge’. It was for this reason therefore that the classroom as a setting was chosen with the exclusion of the entire school. The classroom was chosen because it is where the actual interactions between educators and learners take place. Given the above views, a case study was deemed relevant in this particular project because the researcher sought to explore how the Grade 6 and 7 sexuality educators in the Life Orientation learning area experience teaching the subject in a chosen environment.
Cavana, Delahaye and Sekerana (2001) maintain that an exploratory study is research in which very little knowledge or information is available on the subject under investigation. Therefore, while there is an extensive research literature on the educators’ attitudes, perceptions, knowledge of HIV/AIDS and sexuality, conducted in secondary schools, however, studies conducted to explore the daily sexuality educators’ experiences of teaching the subject in Life Orientation in primary school settings is very limited. The interpretive paradigm lends itself to the research approach adopted in this study. Babbie (2007, p.32) defines ‘paradigms as models or frameworks for observation and understanding which shape both what we see and how we understand it’. In other words, ‘paradigms are perspectives or ways of looking at reality, and they are the frames of reference we use to organise our observations and reasoning’ (Babbie, 2007, p.31). Somekh and Lewin (2005,p.347) maintain that the term ‘paradigm is used to describe an approach to research which provides a unifying framework of understanding of knowledge, truth, values and nature of being. In addition, these authors explain that the interpretivist paradigm is used to discover meaning and to gain a deeper understanding of the deeper implications revealed in the data about the people’.
Neuman (2006, p.31 ) defines ‘a paradigm as a general organising framework for theory and research that includes basic assumptions, key issues, models of quality research and methods for
seeking answers’. For Creswell and Clark (2007, p. 21) ‘a paradigm or world view is the view we have of our world which ultimately influences how we design and conduct research’.
Denzin and Lincoln (2008b, p.4) observe that qualitative research ‘involves an interpretive naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense and interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them’. Hennink, Hutter and Bailey (2011, p.14) maintain that ‘the interpretive aspect means that the approach seeks to understand people’s lived experience from the perspectives of people themselves, which is often referred to as the emic perspective or the inside perspective’.
Snape and Spencer (2008, p.7) further point out that ‘this involves studying the subjective meanings that people attach to their experiences, rather than focusing on facts’. Snape and Spencer (2003, p.7) emphasizes that ‘the interpretive paradigm is the importance of interpretation and observation in understanding the social world which is an integral component of qualitative research’. The interpretive paradigm addresses the methodologies that are sensitive to values underpinning people’s lives. In order to understand fully the values linked to people’s experiences, the researcher requires access to in-depth knowledge and understanding of participants’ life worlds, as well as qualitative and subjective inquiry (Terre-Blanche & Durrheim, 1999). I therefore sought the participants’ perceptions in teaching sexuality education in life orientation to Grade 6 and 7 learners in their classrooms. In addition, the interpretive stance adopted in this study allowed the exploration and understanding of sexuality educators’ experiences, aspirations, and interpretations of their daily interactions with learners in their classrooms.
According to Orlokowski and Baroudi (1991) the interpretive approach is based on an ontology in which reality is subjective, a social product constructed and interpreted by humans as social actors according to their beliefs and value systems. Walsham (1993) asserts that the epistemological stance on interpretive approaches is that knowledge of reality is gained only through social construction such as language, shared meanings, tools and documents. ‘The researcher collapses the experiences into central meaning to derive the essence of experience, and that it is the description of the essence
of experience that becomes the product of research’ Moustakas (1994) in Creswell (2009, p.13) and Fouche (2005, p.270). As Terre-Blanche and Durrheim (1999) observe, it would not be possible to discover and understand how people create meaning in natural settings without the researcher being personally involved.